Joined: Oct 13 2004 Posts: 36119 Location: Poodle Power!
PopTart wrote:We were quick with Sean Long. Alas hindsight suggests we shouldn't have been.
I'm really pleased with the recruitment so far.
This is different. This is being ahead of the curve. It’s a new rule and a good one for clubs like us. To implement it in days shows how on the ball we now are.
Whether this player works out who knows but it looks like we got the first pick.
I know we got to see a bit of Caleb at boxing day but you can tell from what we saw hopefully he's gonna develop as the year goes on, into a no-nonsense meter eater. Just looking at both their stats, at least on paper they're very similar. They play around 40 to over 50 minutes a game, with an average of 85 meters per game. Caleb looks like he could have some big Bopper in him with 53 tackle breaks, and 836 post-contact meters, at a 7.3 m average hit-up. Both have defensive percentages in the 90's and they've both been used as starting Props to interchange. They're both big boys that are only gonna potentially get bigger, better, and more experienced. Isiah from the video looks a little more athletic and has some pace, so hopefully we'll get to see him develop nicely over here. When you think how many seasons they've got till they hit their primes, hopefully, all the hard work by Steve and DP will have worked wonders.
Joined: Oct 13 2004 Posts: 36119 Location: Poodle Power!
Shifty Cat wrote:I know we got to see a bit of Caleb at boxing day but you can tell from what we saw hopefully he's gonna develop as the year goes on, into a no-nonsense meter eater. Just looking at both their stats, at least on paper they're very similar. They play around 40 to over 50 minutes a game, with an average of 85 meters per game. Caleb looks like he could have some big Bopper in him with 53 tackle breaks, and 836 post-contact meters, at a 7.3 m average hit-up. Both have defensive percentages in the 90's and they've both been used as starting Props to interchange. They're both big boys that are only gonna potentially get bigger, better, and more experienced. Isiah from the video looks a little more athletic and has some pace, so hopefully we'll get to see him develop nicely over here. When you think how many seasons they've got till they hit their primes, hopefully, all the hard work by Steve and DP will have worked wonders.
Caleb didn’t do much for me on Boxing Day but that doesn’t mean much. It was actually Boothroyd who impressed me, he looked like one of those all action players that do really well with us, reminded me of Dean Hadley in style. Reckon he might be a hanfull once the season gets going.
I don’t know much about Isaiah… but the dynasty is strong… agree Boothroyd looked OK …I thought Uele looked a bit lost in the structure… not sure how long he had been in the squad before Boxing Day …
vastman wrote:Caleb didn’t do much for me on Boxing Day but that doesn’t mean much. It was actually Boothroyd who impressed me, he looked like one of those all action players that do really well with us, reminded me of Dean Hadley in style. Reckon he might be a hanfull once the season gets going.
If I remember rightly he'd only been here 2 weeks, so it's not that much of a surprise he wasn't up with some of the others but imo there was enough there that once he was fully match fit he'd make some serious meters in the Championship as you say. My main point though was comparing the 2 new props with the stats that got posted, since apart from that boxing day runout and some highlights we don't know that much about either. It was a bit of a surprise even though they play differently they had surprisingly similar stats across the board, obviously you can only take so much out of them but they were both pretty impressive. Agree with Boothroyd, wasn't looking out for him at first but there's no doubt he caught my eye. I don't know how long he'd been in the Country at that point but he was fit and ready to go. Looking forward to seeing Bain and Vagana hopefully in one of these warm-ups before the season starts and then we'll really know what kind of pack we've got on our hands.
Joined: Oct 13 2004 Posts: 36119 Location: Poodle Power!
Shifty Cat wrote:If I remember rightly he'd only been here 2 weeks, so it's not that much of a surprise he wasn't up with some of the others but imo there was enough there that once he was fully match fit he'd make some serious meters in the Championship as you say. My main point though was comparing the 2 new props with the stats that got posted, since apart from that boxing day runout and some highlights we don't know that much about either. It was a bit of a surprise even though they play differently they had surprisingly similar stats across the board, obviously you can only take so much out of them but they were both pretty impressive. Agree with Boothroyd, wasn't looking out for him at first but there's no doubt he caught my eye. I don't know how long he'd been in the Country at that point but he was fit and ready to go. Looking forward to seeing Bain and Vagana hopefully in one of these warm-ups before the season starts and then we'll really know what kind of pack we've got on our hands.
Yep I think Caleb was the last to arrive which is why I didn’t said it didn’t mean much.
I think there is a belief that all Aussie RL players are these supercharged highly trained full time athletes - they are not.
Outside of the top flight they have jobs and train when they can. The club training is not FT and probably on a par with somewhere like Dewsbury. It’s certainly not what they will get with us which is basically SL.
I’m guessing Boothroyd may be different in that he was until recently part of the Aussie equivalent of a FT Academy? If so I think it showed in his fitness and eagerness.
Caleb and Bain have been playing part time footy and good though it is, it’s not SL standard. Fitness is down to the player mainly and some train and live better than others. Both will benefit hugely from a FT environment. I expect Vagane to be the same and I expect them to hit form at the Galway point of the season.
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